ESPN results: Rashidi Ellis decisions Alberto Mosquera

“Speedy” Rashidi Ellis earned a unanimous decision (98-91 twice, 97-92) over Alberto Mosquera, Friday night, to remain undefeated. The contest was the main event of a Golden Boy Promotions card held at the Gran Oasis Arena, in Cancun, Mexico, and televised live on ESPN.

Fighting in his third different country in as many fights, Ellis, Lynn, Massachusetts, outworked and out-landed his Panamanian opponent over the course of 10 rounds, doing so with the tools to help him live up to his billing. Ellis displayed his advantage of hand speed from the jump but Mosquera weathered the early barrages well enough to jaw at the welterweight contender. In the third, Mosquera, 31, started to have some of his best success to the body, which was his most effective strategy throughout the fight, but the pushback he gave Ellis slowly deteriorated by the fifth.

Ellis, 20-0 (13), maintained a good offensive pace that Mosquera couldn’t keep up with, by the midway point of the fight, but perhaps that had much to do with the body work he imposed, in the later rounds. Mosquera, 25-4-2 (16), never looked hurt or completely gassed by the end, however, and even mocked Ellis on a few occasions, to show he wasn’t hurt. Standing his ground wasn’t winning him rounds but Mosquera seemed to get inspired by a ninth round point deduction imposed on Ellis, for a low blow. Mosquera made it a physical affair by the end, and even had Ellis pushed to the canvas on a handful of occasions, but that didn’t score points either.

In the ESPN co-feature, Francisco Horta beat David Reyes via unanimous decision (80-72, 79-72, 78-73) after eight rounds of heated action. Horta, 18-3-1 (10), almost had Reyes out of there on several occasions but Reyes, 17-4-1 (6) showed tremendous toughness that was essential to making the junior featherweight match-up the fight of the night. The television opener was also a good scrap as featherweight Hiram Gallardo, 7-2-2 (1), upset Eduardo Nunez, 10-1 (10), via unanimous decision (57-56 twice, 58-55) that was not only controversial but the final result was separated by a point deduction for a low blow in the third round.